Paul Holton Scores TC Pole, Takes Team C360R to Top Spot

BOWMANVILLE, Ont., Canada – Driver Paul Holton of Orlando, Fla., may have had a home track advantage when the young Touring Car racer rolled into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend.

The 20-year-old professional driver races for the Toronto-based C360R racing operation and has numerous laps around the famed 2.459-mile, 10-turn permanent road racing facility. So, it was no surprise that Holton drove the No. 71 C360R/Pfaff Audi RS3 LMS Club sedan to the TC division pole Friday at CTMP. Dean Copeland of Grasonville, Md., and Canaan O’Connell of Chandler, Ariz., captured the TCA and TCB poles Friday at CTMP.

Holton clocked the pole-winning lap at one minute, 28.476 seconds for an average speed of 100.05 miles per hour, besting the old TC qualifying mark set by Ernie Francis Jr., of 1:28.784 (99.707 mph) in 2015 at CTMP.

“It was a really good lap,” said Holton. “We have a lot of cars out here and it’s a relatively short track, so traffic was certainly a big factor there. We had to pass a couple of cars in the fast lap. Compass Racing is based out of Toronto so this is like the second home track. We spend so much time testing here and I really love this place. (We didn’t have much time) testing in the RS3 because we couldn’t get the car into the country in time.”

Nick Wittmer of Montreal, Que., Canada, will start alongside Holton in Saturday’s 40-minute Round 3 TC feature at CTMP after he recorded a time of 1:29.106 (99.34 mph) for the second spot in the 26-car TC field in the No. 91 ST Racing BMW M235iR.

Young female racer Sarah Montgomery of Lafayette, La., was involved in a wild turn two flip in qualifications at CTMP Friday with her No. 65 Lemon of Love/Shea Racing Honda Civic Si. Montgomery’s car went off the track and flipped numerous times before coming to a stop on its wheels. Montgomery was taken to the CTMP medical center for observations. In addition, Spencer Patterson of Pittsburgh, Pa., was taken to Lakeridge Health in Bowmanville, Ont., Canada for observation after a turn ten accident in his No. 79 Patterson Racing Mazda MX-5.

In the TCA division, Copeland won the pole with his No. 07 Copeland Motorsports Mazda Global MX-5 with a time of 1.:34.830 (93.35 mph) followed by VIR double race winner Matthew Fassnacht of Madison, N.J., at 1:35.681 (92.51 mph) in his No. 74 S.A.C. Racing Mazda MX-5 and Tom O’Gorman of Mason, Ohio in the No. 94 Shea Racing Honda Civic Si at 1:35.796 (92.40 mph).

O’Connell, son of four-time PWC GT champion Johnny O’Connell, was quickest in his No. 24 Tech Sport Racing Chevrolet Sonic with a best lap of 1:44.665 (84.57 mph) for the TCB division with second going to Jake Pipal of Oakdale, Calif., in the No. 6 Pipal Racing Honda Fit at 1:45.423 (83.97 mph).

The Touring Car 40-minute main event on Saturday scheduled for 9:40 a.m. EDT at CTMP, while Sunday’s feature begins at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

Results from the Qualifying Round of the Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park TC Classes on May 19-21, 2017. Listed below is Position, Position in Class, Class, Driver Name, Driver Hometown, Car, No. of Laps Completed, Status, Fastest Lap Time, Fastest Lap Average Speed. All results are provisional until posted Final.